I found Huel through a Facebook ad. I don’t normally click on Facebook ads, but it seemed like it might help me with some struggles I have so I took the leap, ordered my first batch and it arrived today.
I am not struggling with weight as such, I’m an ok weight for my height, so Huel for me is not about weight management. However I do suffer from a form of arthritis and my doctor has proposed an anti-inflammatory diet to see if it will help. I am pretty young to get arthritis and can’t really compute suffering like this for another 60 odd years, so looking to try anything (I’ve already tried a lot of stuff to little effect!)
I have a busy, stressful job, a long commute and am often tired and sore. I do not always eat the best for these and other reasons! So it is unlikely I’d manage the diet I’m supposed to be on in any serious way. I thought Huel might help me with that and have a positive impact on my condition as a result.
No pressure Huel!
So, first ‘meal’ down, and I will have another tomorrow and try and keep it up from there. Taste wise it is neither especially pleasant nor unpleasant, but I am looking forward to experimenting a bit to see if I can make it a bit more palatable and interesting.
So far though, outside the taste itself I am impressed with the purchase experience, the info available and pleased to find a useful forum to help me on my journey.
I’m curious to know if anyone else has used Huel to manage any inflammatory conditions like arthritis and what success was had.
But happy to hear from anyone with advice or experiences to share to help me
I don’t have a similar Huel experience to share but I am very interested in hearing how you get on. My wife is in her thirties & has arthritis. Eight years ago she loved dancing, now she has to use a wheelchair outside & sticks indoors. She’s on morphine for the pain & sadly it only knocks it back by less than half.
If Huel can help that would be great. She hasn’t tried it yet as she’s very picky about what she eats (she used to have an eating disorder) but if we know Huel can help that might persuade her to give it a go.
Is your arthritis osteo or rheumatoid, if you don’t mind me asking? My wife, Cheryl, was diagnosed with early onset osteo arthritis.
I hope Huel can help you manage your condition. All the best with your journey.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m sorry to hear how much your wife is suffering, I’ll certainly try and pop a few updates in to let you know if it’s worth trying. For me, I think even if it doesn’t magically cure things (I’m not expecting that) it will help me get a better diet which will be good regardless.
I guess I’m lucky in that my condition is not as bad as your wife at the moment. I’m also in my 30’s and I can have good days when it doesn’t really affect me. At worst I’m walking with a stick and a back brace on and necking some basic painkillers (I do use stronger painkillers but that comes with other issues so I try not to resort to them if I can manage without.) However it is getting worse, to begin it was only in my hands and feet, but now back and hips so really trying to work it out.
I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis about 4 years ago, but have been skeptical and the new consultant I’ve started seeing is also unconvinced, so we are going through the process of rechecking lots of things. One of her suggestions was an anti-inflammatory diet, since there is research that diet can worsen arthritis, or help mitigate it if you eat the right things. So that’s how I got here
Now onto the Huel… I’m also something of a picky eater, no to mention too busy/lazier than I probably should be when it comes to cooking. The good news so far is that while I wouldn’t go so far to say Huel is enjoyable to drink (so far anyway) - it’s not repulsive by any means and if it helps my wellbeing then I will be able to stomach it I’m sure!
It’s quick to prepare, which is a plus for me - though with arthritis in mind, the shaker is a bit much for me to manage and get a good mix, or not just drop the bottle. I would think for your wife access to a blender would be recommended.
Having my first Huel lunch at work today, watching colleagues eat burgers and other yummy concoctions is a bit of a struggle. But my back really hurts, so using that as motivation to keep drinking…
have had arthritis in my lumber spine & sacro-illiac joints for 5+ years. Have discovered yoga & turmeric (2x 400mg daily) really help! So good, have started running again!
Thanks for the reply. Any updates would be great, much appreciated; I’m sure they’ll be of benefit to others in the future too, who come searching the forum, for similar reasons.
I’m a Huel consumer myself. I’ve been using it to replace the odd meal here & there for a few months. I need to lose some weight, but my main reason for getting into Huel is oddly to do with avoiding not eating. I have depression & sometimes I can’t be bothered to cook for myself; on those occasions I now try to have a Huel. As I’m my wife’s primary carer (the blind leading the blind alas) I can’t afford to let my energy levels get too low.
Anyhoo, back to Huel… I might be able to offer a little sunshine, in that I wasn’t keen on it to begin with but found after a couple of weeks use, I was feeling better - no more gastric pain from my intermittent diet, better energy levels & more stable, so no dips common to sugar rich diets & less desire to snack on junk as a result. More importantly, my body seemed to like this change & I actually found Huel became more palatable, so much so it went from Meh to something I look forward to & enjoy.
Plus the more you experiment, the more ways you find to tweak the experience to suit your preferences. I now usually add a banana & 100-150g frozen berries to a three scoop (100g) Huel shake. I like it thick so I only add 250ml water to this. It makes it spoonable.
A blender helps with texture, while letting it stand in the fridge for a few hours can take away the raw oaty aftertaste as well as help further with texture. The latter helped me a lot initially however I don’t feel the need to do this anymore.
This forum is overflowing with helpful advice from friendly people & loads of suggestions. I really hope Huel works out for you. ttfn.
Thanks @anna. I have yet to try turmeric, but it’s on my list. I’m trying to be a little scientific about it - I need to know what works and what doesn’t and if I try everything at once I won’t know what helped
I tried yoga before but struggled to keep it up, maybe I should go back to it though.
Well @Michael_Rozdoba, in the first few days of using Huel my condition got worse, but I didn’t expect any such drastic change (for better or worse) and think the last few days it’s been more to do with the weather and travel problems meaning an awful lot of standing on my commute!
I did find yesterday I was starting to find it more palatable, I tried adding coffee and having it for breakfast, making it a bit thicker thinking it being the first thing I eat might help trick my brain into liking it more Seemed to help.
It’s tricky to do much more with it when I’m at work, but this weekend I’ll be having fun at home with the blender and various fruit/flavour combinations.
One thing I will say, I seem to have picked up a cold, and despite only using it for 3 days I far less affected/drained than I usually would be - normally even a simple cold can really drag me down. It may be coincidental, but I’m optimistic Huel is helping!
I hope your experimenting went well! I have a chronic pain condition so can relate to the “not always eating the best” thing.
I felt terrible for the first few days when I introduced Huel to my diet but I think it was due to the sudden lack of sugary biscuits and other things I would be consuming to get me through the day! I was feeling much better by the end of the first week so fingers crossed for you!
@Lilz thanks! It’s been a busy couple of weeks so haven’t made it back here to report.
However I’m here now On the good news front, I’ve been able to stick to drinking Huel (something I wasn’t sure I’d manage) and have gotten more used to the somewhat interesting taste and texture. I’m still only using it one or two times a day, not gone all out.
I’ve also found myself tightening my belt more in the morning, don’t have as many sugar lows and have a tiny bit more energy despite not having changed my exercise regime (or lack of it) one bit.
I wasn’t going for, or measuring weight loss - so I’m not sure if my weight has changed as I don’t know where I was when I started!
On the neutral side - I can’t say I’ve noticed any significant change to my arthritis - if anything it’s been a bit worse than normal. But this could be completely unrelated, and I wasn’t expecting a miracle cure. Plus on balance, even just having a bit more energy will help me deal with stuff a bit better.
I haven’t had chance to experiment with flavours too much yet. But a decent shot of espresso is good in the morning
